BAM not worried if Malaysian players fail to achieve the mark in Thomas Cup Qualifying Round
Since the results in Olympic Games hold more value, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has no worries if Malaysian players fail to achieve success in the Thomas Cup Qualifying Round, which will start from February 13, in Macau.
According to BAM, the Thomas Cup Finals had more value when badminton was not an Olympic game, now the situation is different.
In 1992, badminton was included in Olympic Games and got paramount value than any other tournament in the world.
BAM does not have any issue if shuttlers fail to qualify for Thomas Cup Finals because main target for the governing body is to bring good results in the 2012 London Olympics, which is more important.
Ng Chin Chai, who is among the three-member High Performance Team (HPT) of governing body, said that winning at Olympic Games holds more importance for them and if shuttlers remain unable to qualify for Thomas Cup Finals, they will not be worried at all.
According to the official, they do not want to put pressure on national shuttlers and want them to play without taking any kind of stress in the qualifying round.
However, he also made it clear that they will field their best shuttlers and will let them play with a free mind.
Chin Chai said, “The Olympics is the ultimate in every sport and Malaysia has never won a gold medal before. So, it is certainly more important than the Thomas Cup. It means that we will try our best to qualify for the Finals by sending the strongest possible
squad, but if we fail to do it, we will not make a big deal out of it.”
He also made a realistic statement by saying that the current squad does not have the strength to win in the Thomas Cup Finals.
He said, “We understand that public sentiment would certainly favour the Thomas Cup but, realistically speaking, we do not really have a team capable of winning.”
Nevertheless, Lee Chong Wei, the World Number One shuttler in Men’s Singles category, is a hope for Malaysia to help national team to secure a place in the Thomas Cup Finals. He is also the favourite for winning country’s first ever gold medal in Olympic
Games.
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